Pine Away
by MistressAli
Summary: Just a lil idea I got in my head and decided to write it out. It's not entirely serious. More like a what if? Anyway....Robotnik discovers what he needed all this time was right beside him...


Pine away...  
By MistressAli  
All characters mentioned here are (c) Sega/Archie/Dic

Hehhe... okies... this story might disturb some of you... but hey, I had fun writing it, and I like to traumatize people. LOL. Just keep in mind it's not a serious fic, and not the way I usually view their relationship.  
*ahem* I am actually working on some new fics, such as the 3rd story in the new season series (new season, for whom the gavel pounds) and also a sequel to 'following tributaries'.

As a note, this story does *not* tie in with any of my others. :D

**

Days in and out were filled with such emptiness. Robotnik sat musing in his green throne alone, staring at an empty space by the console where his nephew would usually be. But the little man was not here. He was lying motionless, unconscious, and laden with painkillers somewhere in one of the infirmaries.

Robotnik looked down at his hands. The right was large, but looked much like an oversized baby's hand, plump and soft. His left was much harsher, robotic and cold. But when he clenched that flesh hand into a fist, it became hard. Just as dangerous as its metal companion.

These twin fists were what had sent his nephew into the dark realms of the unconscious world, sent him on his merry trip to the medical lab to be sliced open and repaired, like so many times before. Robotnik rubbed his temples with the flesh hand, knowing he'd gone overboard. He should've stopped after yelling, but he couldn't stand the disappointment that stabbed so deep when the hedgehog escaped. He couldn't contain the anger, and his nephew was the only thing to act out on, the only thing that would cry and squirm, helping him relieve this anger, fill in some of the void.

He knew he should control his imagination. That he shouldn't see Sonic crying and squirming when he hit. It was what he always saw. A hedgehog, not a human. An enemy, not an ally.

But in the end, staring down, the image faded away, and he saw his nephew again. He saw his hands on his nephew, and even though the tiny man was always injured, either crying and conscious, or knocked out and bleeding, something within seemed to fill in, rich and bright, making him feel good again. Confident. Making him feel whole again. Could hurting his lackey really bring about such a wonderful feeling?

Somehow, it just didn't seem right.

'If only you knew.' His thoughts were directed at that tiny man. 'If only you knew that I was sorry. Did you know that...that I'm capable of being remorseful? I even am reluctant to believe. '

Days in and days out were filled with such emptiness.

Robotnik sat in his green throne with his head bowed and the lights turned down low. There was such a hollow in there, in that place where his hand touched upon his chest.

'Even I am reluctant to admit.'

A red pupil, bright against a black backdrop, brightened at the sound of doors opening. This was not a SWATbot entering. These footsteps were far too light, echoing timidly in the large space of the room.

He didn't turn to look, merely waited for the small form to appear before him, gazing up underneath those tan eyelashes, eyes so large and childlike, but always filled with the somber pain of an elder who has lived too long. Yet he was not old.

"Sir...?"

"Snively. Good to see you're well. Again."

"Yes sir..." the tiny one's mouth twisted a bit, but he didn't say the biting remark he must be thinking. This wasn't a sickness he'd just recovered from. This was uncle's doing, yet uncle never seemed to acknowledge, or care, or ever apologize.

"Snively." The lights were dim, and there was such a tearing hollow in the tyrant's heart. Could he really go another day like this?

"Sir?"

"I'm pining."

"What?" Blue eyes blinked, a confused expression that was only all-too-familiar on the lackey's face, but Robotnik knew half the time his nephew feigned stupidity. He did it for Robotnik's sake. And for his too.

"I'm pining. I long. I yearn."

"For Sonic's demise?" The man's voice trembled on the hedgehog's name. He hadn't meant to say it. It always drove uncle into a rage.

But the anger didn't come. Robotnik's eyes were glowing, but strangely not with malicious intent. If Snively hadn't known better, he would've marked the emotion there as something tender, yet bewildered, unsure of its own existence.

"No. There is an emptiness inside me, Snively."

The lackey took a step back, eyes blinking again. He gulped a bit, nervously, not sure where this was heading. His body ached. The healing process was not complete yet.

"Sir? If I may ask...what do you wish me to do?"

"I want you to..." Robotnik shut his eyes and shuddered for a moment. He was gathering his composure. "Come here, Snively."

"Um..." The little human seemed reluctant. He shifted in knee-high black boots, azure eyes darting to the floor.

"Come here."

Finally those booted feet moved, until he was standing right besides his uncle's throne.

"No. Here." Robotnik tapped the footrest of his throne with his foot. "Climb up here."

Snively did as instructed, perching on the footrest, gaze settling on the face of his uncle staring back at him.

"Now here."

A large sigh emitted the younger man, but he obeyed once again, though this was highly unusual, not to mention uncomfortable. For now he was perching on his uncle's knees.

"Good. Good." Robotnik felt a shiver rip through him, his eyes closing halfway while he studied his nephew's face. Why did his heart flutter so...why did it seem a small piece of the void was filled in, something warm and welcomed flooding in to complete this missing piece?

His hand lighted on Snively's chin and he tilted the tiny man's head upwards to stare more deeply into his eyes. He realized then, that he had never seen eyes quite like these before. Large, color of clear skies. Skies that he could never see here in the city, only able to glimpse them in the shy, fearful glance from these eyes. They were fringed with delicate lashes of earth brown.

Cheeks were round and soft, flushed pink. A bottom lip, full and sensual, shone with moisture as his nephew nervously licked upon it, not even aware of the erotism of such a gesture.

"S-s-sir?" Snively's voice was starting to shake, and his body was fast following suit.

"Come closer...lay upon my chest."

The lackey seemed to shudder, but didn't question his odd orders, no, he just stretched that little body out, laying his head on his uncle's shoulder, his body sprawled on the larger man's. Underneath him, he could feel his uncle's heartbeat. It was strange, for he always swore the man didn't have a heart...

"Oh good..."

Snively jumped, for now Robotnik's arms were clasping around him, hugging him to that immense chest.

"How this is soothing me. It's so uncanny. I didn't know it, all this time. I didn't realize this is what I needed."

Snively just let out a whimper, his eyes screwing shut. He was scared now, for once not afraid of his uncle's violence, but frightened, horrified of his uncle's...tenderness?

"Sir...please...I don't understand..."

"I know."

"Please...may I...get down now...please?"

"No." The fat man hugged him closer. "Can't you feel it?"

He felt nothing, only the increasing of the tempo of that heartbeat beneath him and hot breath against his head.

"It's being filled. I can feel the emptiness being filled. All this time, I thought it was the anger that helped complete me. But it wasn't. It was the fact that I was taking it out on *you*, Snively."

"W-what?"

"It wasn't that, even, Snively..."

His uncle was saying his name differently. Not biting, or mocking, or darkly, but raspy and with quiet affection.

"It wasn't the anger, it was the fact I took it out on you," the fat man repeated, as if reinforcing his point. Snively still didn't understand. "But that isn't right either. It was the fact that when I hurt you, I was *near* you. It's the only time I'm near you, Snively. The only time I *touch* you."

Well, that was true. Another whimper escaped; the little man still had no idea where this was heading. But his uncle's hands were stroking his back now, and he decided to just relax. If he didn't struggle, he wouldn't piss uncle off. He didn't want him mad. Or was it, he didn't want him *sad*?

"But now I realize, to complete myself, I need to accept this feeling I have denied so long. So long. When did I take you as a lackey? That's when it began. That's when it all began, the denial. And this. But I don't want to be empty anymore. I can't stand it." He took in a deep breath, his large chest rising up considerably, and then falling again at the exhale.

"Sir..." Snively couldn't much stand this himself. He squirmed and finally raised his head to gaze at his uncle's face. "I don't know what you're talking about. You...you're scaring me."

"Then I will tell you, flat out. In order to fill in the emptiness inside me, I must stop denying my feelings. I need to...not in anger...no...not anymore...I need to..."

Robotnik's hand clasped firmly suddenly upon his nephew's chin. He tilted that face upwards, his own tilting downwards. His dark eyes stared down into those pale ones, set in a white face, body clad in storm-cloud gray. This pale, fragile creature that was his own kin, how could he have harmed such a delicate being? How could he have seen a hedgehog where his fist struck, and not a porcelain man?

"...touch you..."

"Sir?" Snively whimpered child-like. His tiny hands tightened on the red fabric stretched across his uncle's chest.

"I need to..." Robotnik's eyes shut now, hiding away something there that was wet and sparkling.

Soft, like a feather floating downwards off a flying wing, gentle, like a mother, two faces came together in..

"...love you..."

A kiss.

And the rest was shocked silence.

**


End file.
